Missouri Advocates For Families Affected by Autism

We are a citizens action group advocating and lobbying for families that have a child with special needs. We believe that EVERY child has a right to a FREE and APPROPRIATE EDUCATION and should NEVER BE LEFT BEHIND.

Following a recent study conducted by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which revealed that many infant monkeys given standard doses of childhood vaccines as part of the new research, developed autism symptoms, question marks over the ultimate safety of vaccines have come to the fore.

The groundbreaking research findings presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in London, England, have revealed that young macaque monkeys given the typical CDC-recommended vaccination schedule from the 1990s, and in appropriate doses for the monkeys’ sizes and ages, tended to develop autism symptoms. Their unvaccinated counterparts, on the other hand, developed no such symptoms, which points to a strong connection between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders.

This development which deconstructs mainstream myth that vaccines are safe and pose no risk of autism, was brought on by after studies on the type of proper safety research on typical childhood vaccination schedules that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should have conducted — but never has — for such regimens.

Included in the mix were vaccines containing Thimerosal, a toxic, mercury-based compound that has been phased out of some vaccines, but is still present in batch-size influenza vaccines and a few others.

Also administered was the controversial measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which has been linked time and time again to causing autism and various other serious, and often irreversible, health problems in children.

“This research underscores the critical need for more investigation into immunizations, mercury, and the alterations seen in autistic children,” said Lyn Redwood, Director of SafeMinds, a public safety group working to expose the truth about vaccines and autism.

“SafeMinds calls for large scale, unbiased studies that look at autism medical conditions and the effects of vaccines given as a regimen.”

Adding to the sentiment, Theresa Wrangham, president of SafeMinds called out the CDC for failing to require proper safety studies of its recommended vaccination schedules. Unlike all other drugs, which must at least undergo a basic round of safety testing prior to approval and recommendation, vaccinations and vaccine schedules in particular do not have to be proven safe or effective before hitting the market.

“The full implications of this primate study await publication of the research in a scientific journal,” said Wrangham. “But we can say that it demonstrates how the CDC evaded their responsibility to investigate vaccine safety questions. Vaccine safety oversight should be removed from the CDC and given to an independent agency.”

I’m all for local educational control. Authentic local control. We do not have authentic school board control in Missouri and I wager than many school districts in other states don’t have local control either. School districts must adhere to federal and state mandates and autonomy is eradicated and discouraged for local school boards. An entity to watch and research in Missouri and your state is your state school board association, a private association which uses tax dollars for its existence. You might find (as we are discovering in Missouri) that these associations do not protect taxpayers, but rather, they assume control that is not granted to them but is wielded over school board members.

Missouri school board members must undergo training to understand what their duties are and most boards look to the Missouri State Board Association (MSBA) for this information. Increasingly it seems as if MSBA is writing policy for school boards instead of being an advisory organization. Research your state school board association and determine its function for your school districts. It has become more of a regulatory association instead of training school board members to be effective voices for the citizenry which elected them. Tax dollars are spent for this training with this private organization. From a previous post:

You can see how much your district pays to belong to MSBA here. The amount is based on the budget of your school district. My district (Kirkwood) pays approximately $10,000 for MSBA’s direction and policy decisions. Why do we need a school board anymore? Maybe the education reformers are right. Just turn it over to private organizations directing how tax money is to be used. School board members increasingly are figureheads for private organizations funded by local taxpayers who think they are actually voting for members who set/direct policy for their districts.

The education reformers are increasingly calling for the demise of the local school boards. Local school boards don’t really do much other than hire/fire teachers and maintain physical property. If school board policy is being written by MSBA and the board members are following along adopting all the policies MSBA writes, then why do school boards exist?

From the Lake Sun:Do you think the current school board policy regarding public participation allows for sufficient opportunity for the public’s voice to be heard? Do you support the current policy or if elected would you seek to make changes to the policy?This policy represents a fundamental shift of the tax paying public’s ‘role’ in school affairs. It plainly seeks to use a questionable interpretation of law to stifle public input to the board, requiring an approval process that filters communications meant for the board through both school administration and school attorneys. This, to many parents, represents another step in a silent coup, preformed under the assumption of authority neither the administration, nor the school attorneys, have. A concerted effort has been made to reinforce the false logic that our representatives should somehow be ‘protected’ from hearing from the public and parents they serve.

Part of the new public comment policy, as recommended during an August visit from an MSBA lawyer, appears below. Camdenton adopted a policy that restricts the public from having open discussions with the board about their concerns, if those requests aren’t ‘approved’ by administration and attorneys.

7. Only items from the posted agenda may be discussed. If an individual seeks to address an issue that is scheduled to be discussed by the Board in closed session, the Board may require the person to hold his or her comments until closed session.

8. The Board may vote to suspend or amend these rules in extraordinary circumstances. The Board may impose additional rules as it deems necessary and reserves the right to alter the above rules depending on the circumstances. The Board reserves the right to cancel, reschedule or delay the public comment period at any time or delay comment on a particular topic. The Board may refuse to hear comments on a particular topic if advised to do so by legal counsel.

Paul Ellison writes how four of the five candidates support the MSBA’s policies of shutting down dialogue from the community:

“Protocol would be for the Board president and/or superintendent to respond to the patron on behalf of the district.” She went on to say, “If several questions come in on the same topic, then the item may be placed on the next board agenda.”

The Lake Sun described the email procedures, as laid out for them by France:

” Then, she told the board that emails would go to a mail distribution group, board@camdentonschools.org, which would be sent to each board member along with the superintendent or a designee. “

And that: ” In most cases, the superintendent or administration will be the one to respond. “

The guidelines adopted for the district’s email policy contain restrictions that mirror, in practical application, those inserted into the inappropriately named ‘public comment policy’. The guidelines offered the Lake Sun by Camdenton’s administration, read as follows:

1. If you are providing Board members an e-mail address, all Board members by policy must sign the Authorized User Permit that staff and students must sign and Board member must agree to the same terms as staff and students.

This first policy restriction would allow, presumably, for the unfettered monitoring of emails between themselves and their constituents. It creates an environment worthy of the NSA in the Camdenton school district. It would allow complete access to all board member’s accounts, without cause, without warrant. Camdenton’s version of Big Brother, it can reasonably be assumed, is manned by school administration and the districts lawyers, the firm of Mickes, Goldman and O’Toole.

Also from the Camdenton administration’s ‘guidelines’:

4. When information is sent via the generic Board@camdentonschools.org, the protocol is for the superintendent or Board president to respond on behalf of the district and to cc the Board the response so that the Board knows the patron has been corresponded with and what was said. If a Board member disagrees with the response or has questions, he or she is encouraged to immediately notify the superintendent and the Board president of that fact.

The last sentence in this ‘guideline’ is one that gives us pause, particularly when we consider the access and latitude granted the administration and its lawyers in regard to the distribution of emails in the first place. This assumption of authority, of determining which emails reach the board, is reemphasized throughout these ‘rules’ created by administration and their attorneys.

Number five of these ‘guidelines’ ensures that, even a board member can be denied the ability to add a topic or concern to the agenda.5. Any Board member may ask that a subject is added to the Board’s agenda at the next meeting for discussion. The Board as a whole will ultimately vote when approving the agenda to determine if the issue will be discussed.

The last sentence of ‘rule’ #5 is particularly offending:

However, Board members are free to direct questions or concerns to the superintendent or Board president.

Number six in the list of guidelines:

6. A Board member who is not the Board president may correspond individually with a patron, but is required to indicate that the opinions expressed are his or her own and not the Board’s. A Board member is prohibited from using a district-provided e-mail address contrary to district policy or law or to violate district policy or law.

The key words and phrases in ‘rule’ number six are distressing. “Board member”, “prohibited”, “contrary to district policy” and “violate district policy”. These are words that place control of our school, not in the hands of our elected representatives, but into those of administration and attorneys. Many of these policies were crafted, approved and suggested by the attorneys for our school district and district administration. They are not rules of law, nor are should they be.

Rules nine and ten completes the usurping of power from the citizens in the Camdenton school district. They clearly illustrate the ongoing efforts to eliminate ‘local control’ over our school districts.

9. The superintendent or Board president in their discretion may not respond to messages from the same sender that are repetitive, or messages that are threatening or that use profane language.

10. The superintendent or Board president will not directly respond to messages involving litigation, potential or pending litigation, or a situation on appeal pursuant to district policies or the law.

In addition, the superintendent or Board president may not respond to messages if advised by the district’s attorney not to do so. However, the superintendent or Board president will acknowledge receipt of the message and notify the sender of the rules.These policies, designed to remove, control and suffocate the input of parents and tax payers, are the opposite of Barbour’s claims.

“Yes, I believe the recently-updated school board policy facilitates engaged communications with our students, parents and patrons. We truly want to hear from our public. It’s their school. We recently enhanced this school board policy with an email address so our patrons can access all board members at exactly the same time from our school district’s web site.

Yes, I support this policy. We will be monitoring its progress. We also will continue to be cognizant of new technology as it emerges to communicate with the public exemplifying transparency and participation.”

She also invited the public to “peruse” the school web site. Perhaps Ms. Barbour should have perused a dictionary for both the correct definition of transparency. To her credit however, Ms. Barbour didn’t dive under her desk like partner-in-crime, Jackie Schulte. Ms. Schulte used the question regarding the public comment policy shift to beat the drums of fear mongering. This fear mongering is based on the flawed legal interpretation that, somehow, the school board could be held liable for what a citizen says to them. This laughable notion is parroted by Schulte.

“Board members are responsible for protecting our staff and students; allowing anyone to speak on impulse could open the district to possible legal repercussions.”

Read about how the Board members are apparently working for the superintendent, not the other way around. The Board is supposed to represent the taxpayers who voted them in, not acquiesce to the superintendent….who the Board hires! Since when does a board take orders from an employee of the District?

Read about conflict of interests between board members and companies performing services for the district. Read about the law firm that represents and advises Camdenton School Board and decide if you think board policies are supporting the taxpayers or special interests. Read how this board is adopting policy written by the law firm that may very well be illegal. Read more here.

Call your school district and find out which law firm is representing your district. Determine if your board policies are copyrighted and directed by MSBA. If most of your policies have been written by MSBA and suggested by your legal representative to be adopted, ask your board members if they are aware of the implications of denying citizens freedom of speech.

Policies written by private organizations supported from tax dollars are developing/directing educational policy for local school boards. Sounds like the NGA/CCSSO writing Common Core standards, doesn’t it? We might as well abolish our school boards and state educational agencies and just shovel the taxpayer dollars to private organizations and forget this charade of local control because it doesn’t exist.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

The San Carlos School District in San Carlos, Calif. retaliated against the parents of a child with special needs by making allegations that resulted in a sheriff’s deputy visiting their house, a letter sent to the family by the U.S. Department of Education concludes.

The March 6 letter was sent in response to a complaint the parents submitted last year after a district official contacted the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office in October 2012 and claimed the child’s father secretly taped a meeting with district educators. The name of the family was blacked out from a copy of the letter obtained by The Daily News.

Although the parents weren’t charged with any crimes, the allegation of criminal behavior, the deputy’s visit and the veiled possibility of arrest and prosecution “are all sufficiently adverse since one or all of them would be reasonably likely to deter a parent from advocating on behalf of their child,” the federal agency’s letter states.

According to facts outlined in the letter following an investigation by the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, the student was in the second grade during the 2012-2013 school year and received special education services because of a health impairment and a speech or language impairment. The parents were “proactive” in seeking special services for their child, sometimes “questioning determinations made by the district.”

On Sept. 27, 2012, after an individualized education program meeting between the district and family to discuss the student’s needs, a teacher informed the school principal — who had not attended — that she believed the student’s father had recorded the meeting. The father wanted to record a meeting before that one and was told the district did not allow recordings without 24 hours notice. He had recorded an earlier meeting but was not told then about the district’s policy.

The principal informed the district’s director of student services about the suspected recording, according to the federal agency’s letter. On Oct. 3, the student displayed “significant behavioral issues” at school and the parents sent an email to the principal seeking a consultation with the school psychologist. Later that same day, the director of student services, who is not named, made a report to the Sheriff’s Office, according to the letter.

On Oct. 13, a deputy went to the family’s home, was told that no one recorded the meeting and closed the investigation, stating in a report that there was “no proof a crime was committed.”

The timing of the district’s actions, relative to the parents’ advocacy, “warrants an inference that the adverse action was caused by the protected activity,” the federal agency’s letter states.

During the Office for Civil Rights probe, the director of student services told investigators that she spoke to the district’s lawyer, schools Superintendent Craig Baker and the school board about her intention to call the Sheriff’s Office to report the alleged illegal recording. But “she never met or spoke with the complainants about the allegation or attempted to obtain their version of events,” the letter states.

Calling law enforcement “undoubtedly has a deterrent and chilling effect on parents and their willingness to actively participate in their own children’s education and advocate on their behalf,” the letter adds. For that reason, a call should be made only when the harm is sufficient enough to warrant such involvement.

The student services director told investigators that the school district’s attorney advised her state law says it’s illegal to record conversations without the prior knowledge and consent of everyone. But state law does not apply to IEP meetings, the federal agency’s letter notes.

To resolve the matter, the district signed off on an agreement that, among other things, requires it to distribute a memo to staff warning against illegal retaliation against families of students in special education and offering to provide training. The agreement, signed by Baker, states that the district does not admit any violation of the law.

In a written statement to The Daily News, school board President Adam Rak said the district is “committed to fair, non-retaliatory treatment of all students and families and it respectfully disagrees with the characterization of facts and conclusions” in the Office for Civil Rights report.

(KMOV) – Missouri is one of 19 states allowing corporal punishment in schools, though that practice may soon be banned, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Missouri Senate Committee on Progress and Development unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to ban corporal punishment in all public and private schools.

As it stands, Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requires each district’s written discipline policy to include rules on corporal punishment.

The Post-Dispatch reports should it be used, the local school board must determine how it will be used and whether a parent will be notified or allowed to choose a different form of discipline.

DESE doesn’t keep track of which Missouri districts use corporal punishment, but in 2009 the Missouri School Boards’ Association estimated at least 70 of the more than 500 state districts had policies allowing the practice.

The Fox School District was one of the last in the St. Louis area to get rid of corporal punishment in the early 2000s.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The message being used by one organisation is instilling fear and hatred about the condition, says Fiona O’Leary, who has Asperger’s.

TODAY is World Autism Awareness Day, and the sound of alarm bells ringing is eerily unsettling to me, and to many other people who are on the autism spectrum.

I did not use the term ‘disorder’, as I do not feel disordered and I object to this negative language. But who will speak for me, and for the autistic community?

We have a voice, we are connecting and supporting each other, yet we are not being heard above the mainstream portrayal of autism as a ‘devastating disorder’. We are being left out of most discussions regarding our future, because the stereotype of us is so debilitating.

Nineteen years ago, my son was diagnosed with autism.

It was not easy then, but as challenging as it was, I feel the parents whose child is diagnosed today receive a barrage of negative information from powerful ‘awareness’ groups.

One such organisation is Autism Speaks, which is the driving force behind the ‘Light It Up Blue’ campaign that has been adopted by many of the prominent Irish autism charities and awareness groups.

I, for one, and many other individuals on the spectrum, along with the majority of self-advocacy groups, will not be lighting anything blue, and for indisputably good reasons.

Firstly, Autism Speaks’s senior leadership does not include a single autistic person, and excludes autistic adults from its board of directors, leadership team, and other positions of seniority.

In November, 2013, John Elder Robison, the only Autism Speaks advisory board member who is on the autistic spectrum, resigned his post.

Elder Robison was protesting the organisation’s portrayal of ‘the problem’, which described the families of autistic children as not living, but merely existing.

Elder Robison stated in his resignation letter that after four years of attempting to reform the organisation from the inside, he had been unsuccessful, and he could no longer be a part of the “only major medical or mental health, nonprofit organisation whose legitimacy is constantly challenged by a large percentage of the people affected by the condition they target”.

In one of Autism Speaks’s most prominent fundraising and awareness videos, one of its executives says how she had considered driving off the Washington Bridge with her autistic child.

She didn’t, because she had a ‘normal child’ also. Her words were spoken while her autistic child was playing, within earshot, in the background. Another video, the now infamous ‘I Am Autism’ ad campaign, tells the listener that ‘autism’ knows where you live, that it is an epidemic worse than cancer, AIDS, and diabetes combined, that it will destroy your marriage and make you bankrupt, that you will never go to a church, a park, a birthday party again, without a struggle, without embarrassment. Is it any wonder that lady felt like driving off a bridge: how long can one breathe in this demonisation and horror?

There is much more to highlight about this organisation, but if the reasons here are not alarming, then we need to wake up from the utopia of ignorance in which we doze.

Because Autism Speaks does not speak for me and I have Asperger’s.

It does not speak for my two wonderful and gifted boys, my reasons to live, who are on the autistic spectrum.

Yet Autism Speaks is ‘sounding the alarm’ with their latest awareness campaign, around the world and, most worryingly, right here in Ireland.

I participated on the panel of the final public consultation meeting of the IARB (Irish Autism/Neurodevelopmental Registry and Biobank) held at University College Cork last month.

The proposed Registry and Biobank is a partnership between Trinity College Dublin, NUI Galway and Autism Speaks. When I saw Autism Speaks’s logo — of a blue jigsaw piece — occupying equal space on the literature and advertising of a proposed biobank, I was more than a little unhappy. I was stunned at the logic of including an organisation that is controversial within the autistic community in a venture that needs that community’s cooperation if it is to be successful.

I expressed my concerns and I was invited to participate.

Myself and a small group of advocates went to object to the involvement of Autism Speaks, making the logical point that by including Autism Speaks they would be excluding a huge number of autistic people and their families, who rightly boycott that organisation.

Our premise, ‘nothing about us without us, is a good place to start.

Any research that will bring positive benefits to people on the autistic spectrum is welcome. However, the propaganda used by Autism Speaks is instilling fear and hatred about a condition that is struggling to find acceptance in society.

This is one of Autism Speaks’s most controversial videos, which depicts autism as a ‘monster’ coming to get your child.

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About Me

I am the mother of three beautiful children. Two of them have graduated from high school. One of those is in college taking remedial courses because she didn't receive the free and appropriate education that she was entitled to. I am now paying college tuition for that education.
My third child is autistic and was forced to drop out of school. He was receiving no services for his autism and was no longer progressing in his classes.
He was being destroyed emotionally, psychologically, and mentally. He was forced to take medication to just attend school and that affected his liver. He is 17 years old. He has a nonverbal IQ of 123 and the interpersonal skills of a one year old.
My taxes have paid for an $8.6 million administration center, $12 million aquatic center, $250,000 for band uniforms,and a $15 million elementary school with empty classrooms. They have not paid for my children's education. My district boasts that they spend the least amount per student of any other district in the area. But, they will hold up their facilities to those in the much richer county to the west. We also have the second highest tax levy in Jackson County.